We were up at 5 am today to drop the rental car off at Hobby Airport and then to make our way to George Bush Intercontinental Airport for our 10am flight to Honolulu. We boarded our flight and we were on our way. The time in Hawaii was 6.30am so back our watches went. It was a 7 hour flight and we arrived in Honolulu at about 1pm. After tracking down our bags, eventually, we decided it would be easiest and cheapest to Uber our way to our accomodation. We downloaded the app and we booked a ride. We found our way to the pickup point and Norman (who works in the same profession as David) picked us up. Norman was very helpful and dropped us off at our accommodation the Ohana Waikiki Malia. We dropped our gear off and took a bit of time to gather our thoughts before we headed out to the beach and then to Roys bar (our new favourite local after Grand Pre's in New Orleans) for a couple of drinks and a bite to eat. By the time we got back to our accomodation we worked out we had been up for about 19 hours.
Views from our hotel room; made the body tingle a bit lol!!
Found these in Fort DeRussy's Army Museum.
One for you Woody!
The next day we decided would be a bit of an R&R day. We woke up to light drizzle but still warm. We caught the complimentary pink line bus that does a bit of a loop around Waikiki and got off at the Ala Moana shopping centre which is beyond huge. We did a little bit of shopping and had a good look around although we suspect we only saw a fraction of what was available. After getting lost trying to find the pick up point for the pink line bus we completed the circuit and got dropped off outside our hotel. After a rest we walked down to the main beach at Waikiki and paddled our feet before walking back to our hotel.
One of very many named shops about town.
Waikiki!!
Today Norman picked us up at 7am and took us to Pearl Harbour. Pearl Harbour was sobering to say the least. We saw a short film of the events that led up to the attack and then caught a boat past the USS Arizona memorial. The memorial is under restoration at the moment so we could look at it from afar. It was quite an emotional experience and did bring a tear to my (Judy's) eye. Once back ashore we had a look around and David took a look on the USS Bowfin (Submarine). Norman collected us when we were ready and took us back 'home'.
New overhead rail.
The USS Arizona memorial. Unfortunately it was closed for refit so we couldn't land.
USS Missouri. Japan's surrender was signed on her Quarter Deck.
Forward torpedo tubes.
Bags not sleeping above the torpedo!
Officer's area. Only the Captain had his own cabin.
Officer's Mess.
This is the steerage area directly below the Control Room/Periscope Room
I wonder if it has been around the clock? 18 thousand nautical miles doesn't seem much.
Ballast control
Periscope Room
Main galley.
Dinning Room
Not enough pits for everyone! These subs had a crew of around 75 persons. Hot pitting was used I feel.
Forward engine room. Two straight six diesel engines for main propolsion.
Aft Engine Room with the same engines to drive the generators to charge the batteries.
Electrical Switches controlled by the generator control levers.
Generator and battery controls.
Aft torpedo tubes.
This boat is very well looked after; the bright work and condition of the paint and equipment is nothing short of a boat that is in active service: it looks as though it could sail tomorrow.
We counted 32 subs like the Bowfin that were mentioned by each boat within a memorial, as lost, and whilst there were some that were lost without the loss of any lives (they ran aground on reefs) the majority were lost with all onboard, all 75 persons.
Tomorrow is our last day in Honolulu. Norman, was picking us up at 7am to show us around the Island which would've been good but he got stuck at work so we had a sleep in and some breakfast before having a walk around some of the areas we had yet to explore; but really, there is only so many gift shops; surf shops; jewellers, and yes, darn Harley shops you can look at. David went into the Tesla shop to look at the cars and they booked him in to take a Tesla for a test drive (go figure)!!!!!!!! We can have it for 6 hours so we are going to drive around the island.
After breakfast we had a little walk around before going back to our room to rest. At 1.30pm we headed down to the Tesla shop for our 2.00pm appointment; it didn't take long for the nice young chap to take us up to the car and show us how it works: he assisted us to put in my profile (David) and set up the mirrors, seat and steering wheel and once saved showed us how the navigation worked, set up the safety features (especially the car avoidance one) and we were off.
Up north to North City we went first. The car was very quiet, very very responsive and very comfortable. The initial freeway out of Honolulu is about 6 lanes wide so I was changing lanes to make sure I was in the right one to get us onto the correct route when suddenly the car swerved back into the lane I was in: it had detected a car close by thinking it was too close to safely change so put us back into a safer position; very clever. I liked it.
On the way out was passed a Dole Pineapple plantation was decided to stop and have a look at the visitor centre; it was packed! We managed a little look around before carrying on.
Our next stop was the Historical Village Haleiwa Town, by which time we were on the northern coast. Here there is a lot of shops selling beachie things like togs, surf boards, t shirts etc etc. but it did have its own Court House!
Rabbit Island
Koko Crater
The black line up the middle of the slope is the path and stairs to the top
Diamond Head
Skink
Well the trip has come to an end. We head off in the morning to the airport at 6.00am for our flight home: I think we are both ready for home; we miss it; our family and friends, so it is a good thing.
Together over the past 6 weeks Judy and I have ridden and driven over 6000 miles; we have met some great people, we have ridden with some great people; all who will remain friends forever and we finally got to meet Dwane and Nancy. Dwane has been helping me over the past two years to find parts for the Chevy truck and we have become very close friends. It was an absolute privilege to be able to stay with them in their house and have them show us around; we love you guys and always will💕. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jo Wiseman 💕for hearing my call for another ride and spend a lot of hours putting one together; Chris for safely leading us; and all the other riders Mike, Sandy, Cheryl, Steve, Sandra, Mark, Robert, Kathy, Rob, Gill, Jody, Stacey, Craig, Garry, Denise, Graeme and Woody; I would not have wanted to do it with any one else😍. Through all the good and the bad (not a lot of that!) there is no one else I would've wanted to share my bike with than Judy. She kept me amused, helped to navigate, kept me calm, helped me fuel up, kept me watered and fed plus through trying conditions always had the camera ready for a shot; she was and is my rock whom I love dearly💖.
I hope you have all enjoyed the blog. To all our family and friends see you soon.
Mahalo and Aloha, thank you and goodbye.
